The Art Of Surprise, Liberty Walk Style

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Social media is both a gift and a curse when it comes to big events like the annual Tokyo Auto Salon.

Once upon a time you’d look forward to seeing tuning shops’ latest reveals throughout the numerous halls of the Makuhari Messe, with no Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter to spoil the surprise. But thanks to always-evolving communication technology, we’re now able to tune into live updates as these builds come together, and on the back of this more and more shops are essentially revealing their final results days before major events. Yes, it’s a great way for companies to build hype and grow their social media reach, but in doing so it takes away the excitement of the unexpected.

Kato-san of Liberty Walk decided to do things a little bit different for this year’s Tokyo Auto Salon, fighting the urge to leak the newest additions to his bolt-on overfender family all over the internet prior to the event. For the first time in a long time, no one really knew what he had brought to the TAS party.

This one was especially intriguing.

Before getting to what was actually under the covers, which thanks again to social media you probably already know, I had a bit of time to venture about the huge Liberty Walk booth and see what other cars Kato-san had brought along to support the triple surprise.

Given that it’s been one of Liberty Walk’s most popular offerings to date, Kato-san decided it was time to revamp the R35 GT-R wide-body kit with a updated version he calls the LB Works Type 2.

Across from the R35 GT-R was one of two new NSXs at Liberty Walk’s booth, this one sporting the fully completed overfender kit that was lacking when Dino and I paid a visit to the shop a few months ago.

The other car was the stock-fender LB Performance version, which we saw on Speedhunters when it first released. If I ever found myself in possession of a new NSX and had to choose between the two kits, I’m not really sure which way I’d lean…

It’s quite possible that I’d forgo both and just pick up a Honda S660 for Kato-san and his team to go crazy on. Because who wouldn’t want to own a baby NSX?

The S660 looks oh-so-perfect with or without overfenders, and really only requires a tweak in the suspension department and the right set of wheels to really set it off. The want is still strong with this one.

Seeing the popularity of the S660, Kato-san decided to create a baby R35 GT-R out of a Daihatsu Copen. The kit is called the GT-K, K standing for kei.

Having one of the biggest slices of TAS show floor real estate, Liberty Walk didn’t have any trouble finding room for some of its older creations either.

If you’re looking to take a piece of Liberty Walk home with you but the option of a wide-body kit is out of reach, there’s plenty of other ways you can spend money on the brand.

As the time to remove the covers approached, Kato-san’s gamble to keep some of his new creations secret really looked to have paid off. I haven’t seen a bigger crowd gathered for a car reveal in a very long time.

Up first, and to my actual surprise, was this Lexus LC 500. I’ve noticed a styling pattern with this new model at TAS, but I’ll save that for a different post.

Next, a limited edition Lamborghini Aventador kit. Only 50 of these kits will be made in total: 30 for domestic customers in Japan and 20 for those in the rest of the world. I’m not sure how functional all the extra aero actually is, but I do know that the sum of all parts looks absolutely stunning.

Finally, the biggest surprise of all – the Lamborghini Miura. The kit is simply called the LB Works, and it’s simply mad.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a genuine Miura in person here in Japan, and that still stands now. That’s right purists, you can stop holding your breath – this is a replica built by the LB team, from a Ford GT40 replica.

I’ve kept things brief with these cars because next week we’ll be getting the chance to spend time in the wild with all of them. So you can think of this post as an appetizer before the main course.

With the year having just begun, Kato-san has plenty of time to create plenty more unique and likely controversial pieces. In the meantime though, I’m interested to hear what everyone thinks about his latest creations – especially the LB Works Miura.

It's been a long time since I raged as hard as I did when I saw that Miura with overfenders, at least until I read that it was a replica. I'm usually the last person to get triggered about people modding classics, but stance fitment with tacked-on overfenders on a Miura is over the line.

Haha, I had the exact opposite reaction. It took my breath away, and I was like "this is the most incredible thing I've seen from the show so far." and totally fell in love with it. Then I was seriously disappointed to find out it was a replica. As an automotive designer, I just think we hold up certain models as too sacred to do anything with for fear of ruining them, so it's always refreshing to see a new take when someone has the confidence in their abilities to make something amazing.

The stance and style s**t has gotten completely out of wack. For one, these exotics are being hacked up and replaced with completely gaudy parts. The overfender craze with exposed bolts is just an awful look, IMO. To take a car, that is beautiful from the start, and destroy the ride and handling, AND to top it all off it looks tacky too. I have just have no idea what is behind this stupid craze. I hope this Liberty Walk guy does NOT inspire any other people. I guess it is his 'signature art' that is probably what people really like about it, and that's fine, it's like have a Van Gogh...to most people, it's just a weird painting. But, when you understand the history, and the provenance, you develop an appreciation for it.

That's a rather poor choice of car for that analogy, considering the sports model was dominant enough in its day to get a song written about it. I know I probably would build one for speed, and I also know that the boulevard cruisers are still likely to be more functional than these stance cars.

The really sad part is, it could have actually come out pretty nice (painting it black seems to make the rivets less visible, seriously, even if the overfender isn't completely molded in, hiding the rivets makes it look 10x nicer), if they hadn't gone overboard on the fitment. Excessive camber, stretched tires = yuck. You want to make a race-car Miura, go ahead, but I do draw the line at stancing it.

Not to mention turning them into static displays. Obviously I don't get turning a great car into something that is going to be slower and worse to drive than before it was tampered with. Maybe it is the vanity of youth and I'm just an old fart?

With that said... Between Liberty Walk and RWB, isn't the whole wide body over-fender thing just about played out? I guess if driving a Lamborghini doesn't get you enough attention there is always this option.

Stickers and plastic. Is that what makes a “tuner” these days? What a collection of bubblegum-Fast &Furious-grade school crap! Enough guys. Find the next “movement”. A tube of caulk, some flares, and a box of sheet metal screws is over.

At first I thought it was a MK1 GT40 under the covers, but... OH, WOW.First time ever to see a Miura wearing over-fenders. A '70s race car styling, quite interesting. (Pity that there's no picture of the rear quarter because that's the Miura's best looking angle!)I'm sure the ducktail spoiler would look good on this one.

I'm not a fan of LB, I am tired of LB and Rocket Bunny, and many body kits that copied it.However, I like for them to beat up a "nobility" with their own style.Until now Supercar was a sanctuary. Except for some tuners like Koenig-Specials and Gambara, touching them was equal to a desecration of God.But they maintain their style without fear of the anger of God and their fanboy. Do it more. I will support that spirit.

Fun to read some of these comments; not functional / rice / waste / crap etc. What a bunch of ignorant snobs. You click on a Liberty Walk article what do you expect?

Besides when did the warm fuzzy we get when we take a glance back at our car or drive it and feel how it responds to our input get categorized with someone's being better than another. Who cares if you got a work of engineering art and love the design, history and precision that went into it versus someone who for the first time installed a intake on their old civic and hears the engine for the first time. That warm fuzzy is the exact same no matter where in the world you are, what budget you have, or purpose for the thing you call a car.

For goodness sake I personally don't like the look of Dino's green wrapped GTR, I don't think it fits. But part of having different tastes is what gives us a variety of builds. Besides when talking about functional for these bolt-on modded cars, I bet you if you see it in real life you will look twice, hate it or love it. In that instance it has caught your attention it has achieved its function of getting you to look.

I would love to clarify. The car is at a car show (not a track). The product is the body work (not the suspension), the advertisement is partially in its controversy.

I also enjoy seeing how you focus in on "ignorant" - not "snob" or anything else, I guess you already recognize that within yourself. I will stand corrected in that I could have used a better word than "ignorant" but the level of narrow-minded idiocy in the comments seems to have aggravated me. I am 100% sure that others here, maybe even you Mr. John B, understand the engineering of suspension, aero, etc, better then I do, I am not a engineer and that is not my forte. But the lack of your, among others, ability to see the car in context does seem to also push our collective stupidity even lower.

There's definitely a pyramid to car tuning with those that understand / appreciate proper and correct tuning becoming smaller and smaller every year. Millennials and the stance kids have really muddied up the water which is why there are so many messages of "accept everything" etc etc. It's bullshit, the car is crap, alignment sucks and the ground clearance is garbage.

Car probably handles like shit. Some people call garbage what it is, others decorate their automobiles with it. I suppose it's all perspective. Cheers.

I like it, wheel fitment is a bit too stancey for me but overall I think it's cool. The Miura was never a race car, it was always a poseur car so why not? Obviously I've never driven one but I understand that it's not much of a performance car on road either. Just don't let him do it to a (real) 250 GTO!

In the sense that it was meant for poseurs. Like pretty much every lambo. I have very little interest in supercars, especially ones that can't back it up on track. What do you do with a fast car that you can't race? Pose. Sure, it's a beautiful shape but I don't think it's so sacred that someone can't mod it. If it was a real one you could always have replaced the genuine wings with modified ones and then put it all back to standard later. Also, I'm sure this LB 'Muira' has transit tipper rear lights!

'Performance'... 'Art'... I don't think those ticked fully. All this company do was enlarge the body profile, smack some signature elements like wings and flaps from real autosports, and call it a day when they managed to slap bigger n rarer wheels and drop the profile dead to the ground. Sprinkle in some flashy bits like stickers and wraps to make sure everybody notice. Of course, some of the kits will eventually find their way to performance machines like the Madbul stable, but try slapping those to track machines and at least toss them in wind tunnels to test the 'performance'. When articles pop out about the specs then n truly then can speed hunters community appreciate the performance part.And as for people saying that one should appreciate what they do with their cars, being static like this, well, when the tires scrape the guards, the bodywork kisses the ground and the wheels and suspensions back out just to make others notice, those surely were the signs that the car is destined to be destroyed, not appreciated. So how can others appreciate that line of thought?

When I saw the Miura, I was instantly excited...reminds me of a hardcore raw Group B race car from the 70/80's. I love it.It also screams Japan & JDM Tuning at it's fullest. It may not appeal to everyone, but everyone should appreciate their initiative to do what they do best, even if it is only visual effects...

In a couple of decades we will all look back on things such as this and miss the hell out of it, because eventually all cars will virtually be the same.A great example is Sinagpore, im here visiting family and just got home from the SG Motorshow - Talk about depressing...

How many times are the same people gonna write comments b*tching about overfenders and flares before they realize that the "fad" has been around for a long time and isn't going anywhere? Skylines were rolling out of the factory in 1969 with bolt-on flares. It's not new. Y'all sit up in your ivory towers talking down on any vehicle mod that doesn't subscribe to your own ideals whilst simultaneously crucifying the mod's creators/consumers to achieve what? Oh, you wanna fix car culture? Quit telling people what to do with their cars.

While were at it we should pull out the Mona Lisa and rattle can it with graffiti. Smfh...thank God people are caring for those cars and not giving them to kids with Hoonigan stickers on their bumpers.

Wow, exaggerate much, cool your jets. They can do a replica like they did with this Miura and we can experience a daring piece of art without damaging a historic vehicle. So yeah, lets grab a Mona Lisa PRINT and graffiti all over that, because pushing the boundaries and making you question is what art is all about

Mixed emotions when i saw the miura, looks good. bonnet seems longer than an actual miura. glad its a replica though.Since he's into cutting up replicas, ferrari 250GTO, gullwing Mercedes, e-type and a 2017 Jaguar XKSS could make intersting candidates...

I admire Liberty Walk for figuring out that they don't need to properly design wide bodies with custom fenders, just bend some metal sheets, rivet it to the fender, set some stupid camber and sell it to poseurs for $$$,$$$. Brilliant!

A lot of people seem to be getting butthurt about the stance/figment of the Miura but I’d just like to remind everybody that you can take a functional setup and drop it excessively low for the purpose of looking wild and breaking necks. But that doesn’t mean it’s ruined. It’s not like it’s a big deal to just raise the suspension back up and adjust the camber and toe back to a point where it drives and handles well. Lot of y’all seem to be forgetting about adjustable suspension...

Save the self expression accept everyone speech for a school safe zone. Miuras are about speed. The man has ruined a replica with a poor alignment and no ground clearance. Facts are not subjective and dont care about your feelings / self expression.

I love unique builds like these, Liberty Walk, Rocket-Bunny, Pandem, they're all my favorite body kits, I would love to own a car that can fit those kits, maybe I'd go for a mix, but I sadly dont have the money nor car to use on those kits. Maybe just make a custom kit of my own? Nah, also, how'd you guys feel about a widebody Chevy S10 LS swapped with a custom body kit with bags?

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